


It May Not Help Now, but I'm Still Here

by Serpents_of_Fire_and_Fog



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27693403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serpents_of_Fire_and_Fog/pseuds/Serpents_of_Fire_and_Fog
Summary: After his parents have a fight, Damian spends the night with Janis.
Relationships: Damian Hubbard & Janis Sarkisian
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	It May Not Help Now, but I'm Still Here

**Author's Note:**

> So this is something I wrote a while ago, published, and then took down. In all honesty it was just me being really venty and I didn’t like that because I was like “Hey, those are my emotions, gross.” So I took it down (from Ao3, I kept it up on Wattpad) and have been contemplating it for literal months now. I decided that I liked the second chapter because it was less of me just projecting. You don’t need to read the first chapter to understand what happened so I’m just going to publish it as a one shot.

Janis was worried. 

Damian had not answered a single one of her text's since they had left school. She knew he was probably just busy, but he always answered her texts. She became even more worried when her mom told her she needed to make sure her room was clean enough for him to spend the night. It was a Wednesday. They had school in the morning. Something had to be up. 

She kept questioning her mom, but she had refused to say anything, saying simply that it was up to Damian to share when he came over. Janis hurried to clean her room, shoving art supplies and laundry in drawers and hiding random socks. She glanced nervously at the clock on the wall every few seconds to see how much time had passed. Finally, the doorbell rang. 

Janis ran down the stairs as fast as she could. She was just in time to see her mother open the door. On the other side stood Mrs. Hubbard with her arm wrapped protectively around Damian. The two women talked in hushed tones and Damian seemed to be avoiding eye contact at all costs. They both looked pretty upset and it physically hurt Janis to see them like that. Mrs. Sarkisian turned around and waved Janis forward. She instructed her to help Damian bring his bags up to her room. 

They climbed the stairs in utter silence. Janis would occasionally open her mouth to say something but would quickly shut it. In the background she heard Mrs. Hubbard and her own mother continue their conversation. When they reached her room they both slipped inside, shutting the door firmly behind. There was an awkward silence before finally Janis finally spoke up.

"Hey, are you all right," after minutes of desperately trying to find her words, that was all she came up with.

Damian forced a laugh in response, "I am perfectly fine. My parents are getting a divorce and it’s my fault but I'm still perfectly fine." Janis stood there dumbfounded before rushing forward and embracing her friend. Damian hugged her back, silent tears falling from his eyes and landing on her shoulder. They stood like that for what felt like hours but could have easily been only seconds. When they finally stepped apart, Damian had stopped crying. though his face had become red and splotchy. 

Not long after, Janis's mom came into the room to inform Damian his mom had left. She had some matters to take care of and she would come and pick him up sometime after school tomorrow. "Why don't you two get situated. We're going to be doing 'make your own personal pizza's ' tonight so I'm going to go start the dough. It will be done in about an hour so finish up any of your homework," Mrs. Sarkisian smiled warmly, her eyes lingering on Damian just a moment longer before leaving the room.

Damian unrolled his sleeping bag on the ground and sat there with his homework in hand while waiting for Janis to dig through her disaster of a closet to find her own. It took awhile, but after digging through the mess of art supplies and clothing, she eventually found it. She laid it out next to Damian and grabbed her own homework. 

They worked in a comfortable silence. Janis could tell Damian was upset, but she didn't want to push it too far. Not yet, anyway. She needed to give him some time to think and he would talk to her when he was ready.

Not long after Mrs. Sarkisian came back into the room, true to her word. Janis and Damian followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen at her direction. The two friends piled toppings onto their pizza crust as they had done so many times before. They watched Janis's mom put them back into the oven to allow the cheese to melt before each taking a seat at one of the island's bar stools. In almost no time the Janis and Damian were munching on their dinner constantly. 

Janis glanced at Damian. She could tell he was feeling better than before. However, he still looked a bit glum, and understandably so. She did not yet know the full story but she had pieced together what she could. She had inferred that Damian's parents had fought, and now his mom and dad needed some space to talk things over without putting too much worry or pressure on Damian. That would explain why he was here now. It still did not explain why Damian perceived it as his own fault, but she would do anything and everything in her power to prove to him that it was not. 

When they had both finished their pizza, Janis quickly cleared away the mess. Her mom told her that just this once they could take their sleeping bags down into the basement and watch a movie until they fell asleep. They did just that. After changing into pajamas, they dragged their sleeping bag's down into the basement and laid them across the floor between the television and the wall. 

Janis flicked the television on and asked Damian if he had any preference. When he shrugged instead of answering, she paused only briefly before bolting up both sets of stairs to her room. Damian was always super bubbly and assertive when it came to picking what they watched on their typical movie nights. But this was no typical movie night. Five minutes of loudly searching her room, cursing, and two " Is everything OK up there?"'s from her mother later, she found what she was looking for. Clutching a flash drive in her hand and swinging her laptop case over her shoulder, she thundered all the way back down the stairs and into the basement. 

Damian gave her a puzzled look, but she only smiled. She opened her laptop and plugged in the flash drive. She then proceeded to connect the laptop and TV. When Janis showed Damian what she had saved, his eyes widened in shock. On the flash drive were many different musical bootlegs. She had saved as many as she possibly could have off of YouTube for such an occasion. To be clear, Janis was not a huge musical theater fan. She hadn't even considered watching a musical until she met Damian. But she cared about her friend and wanted to show an interest in his hobbies. 

Janis selected the first one listed: Heather's the Musical. She knew it had been one of Damian's favorite's since the soundtrack was first released. They watched the show in silence and Janis's eyes occasionally darted towards Damian. When the recording ended Janis decided it was finally time for another attempt at conversation. 

"Hey, I know you may not want to talk right now, and that's perfectly fine," her words were slow and deliberate, "But I am always here for you. No matter what. I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through, but I'm here to help. Just like you were there for me, I want to be there for you. "

Damian finally looked her in the eyes. They sat there for a moment, just looking at each other. "Thank you," his voice was barely a whisper, " It means a lot." Janis smiled at him slightly before turning on another bootleg.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! More fanfics coming soon (I swear!!) now that I can defiantly say I have a more structured writing schedule. Also I don't have school for like a month (other than semester finales) so that will help.


End file.
